03 July 2018; Rhodos, Greece.

The problem with Rhodos is it is always windy. Windy nearly every day; but in an unpredictable way. According to the law of (local logic and routine) the wind should start to blow gently in the morning and then steadily increase during the day. So you should have a half decent arrival and a windy departure. The prediction for today was 10 to 14 knots and it was to remain that way for the whole day. For the latter we had high hopes but little confidence. But for arrival we could believe the 14 knots.

It was not to be. Up to 26 knots blew at times from the North West through the port and perpendicular to the ship when we came in. Thus all power was needed to push the Oosterdam alongside the dock and keep her there while the ropes where being sent ashore. That gave more fuss, as the linesmen here are convinced they know it all, that the ships crews are idiots, and they are very vocal in announcing that to the whole world. It is not only Rhodos where this occurs, it is almost over the world, except Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica are a strange exception; for some reason they are highly disciplined there.

We always say there is somewhere a Longshoremen Academy in the world, where they all learn the same thing and that is:

A. Being very slow B. Refuse to put the rope on the bollard that the ship needs C. Tell the ship to hurry up D. Make a scene if they have to pull  the rope too far (even when they use a car) E. Show a truculent attitude for the whole period that they are in attendance.

The three arrows: The offending broken bollard, the offending containers, the offending linesmen (just outside the photo)

I was on forward stations this morning with the cadet and he got a very good education today as A to E were all present. On top of that the wind started to breeze up at the wrong moment making it difficult to throw the messenger or heaving line ashore against the wind. Then at the last moment the pilot advised the captain that one (crucial) bollard was cracked and could not be used, it would have been helpful if he had done that before we started to put the lines ashore. Also some bright spark had parked containers in front of another bollard and the whole ship had to go forward for the lines to clear. So the captain was not a happy camper either. But of course we managed ………….. and then the wind died down again to normal for that time in the morning. Welcome to Rhodos.

I was planning to conduct tender operator assessments today for every sailor who had a Tender Proficiency certificate. But as we were now not certain how the wind was going to behave later in the day, we decided to postpone to another port. I am still on board until July 17^th. so there is time.

A caption from www.vesselfinder.com, (of today for Rhodos) which tracks nearly all ships in the world with an AIS. The Blue Star 2 is a ferry and we assume that the Orient Queen had switched off her AIS as she was docked just below the Golden Iris.

For a ship aficionado and historian, sailing in the East Mediterranean, has some interesting perks. It is full of old passenger ships that in other places in the world would have never found employment. Today was no different and we had the Golden Iris with us in port; built in 1974 as the Cunard Conquest and since 2009 operated by an Israelian company called Mano Cruises. They have a sort of pendulum cruise going between Haifa / Ashdod and Rhodos. Then there was the Orient Queen; built in 1989 as the small cruise ship Vistamar for the Spanish market. She is sailing from Beirut to Greek and Turkish ports. And then there was the Gemini. She was built as the Crown Jewel in 1992 for Caribbean Cruises, and then sailed from 1995 to 2016 in the Far East. Came back to Greece as the Celestyal Nefeli and today she is next to us under the colors of ETStur, a Turkish tour company, making Cruises from Izmir in Turkey. The amazing thing for the last one is, is that from 1995 onwards she always kept the same name Gemini, even when changing owners.

The smallest cruise ship in port the ms Orient Queen. Right in front the ruins from the old battlements which protected the old harbor, now the local Marina. This is the Tower of France. See explanation below.

As the smallest ship, she docked closest to the city where there is a small cruise pier that is adjacent to the Marina which is really the old harbor. The ruins on the dock here were a short advance wall / fortification for the larger city walls and protection of the port and city. Built upon the original Byzantine walls after 1309 by the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John. None of the walls were solid. The other skin was of strong stone and the inside filled up with rubble. Good to absorb gun fire but when the outer wall collapses, then the rubble also comes out and it makes for great ruins as can be seen on the photo.

This is one of the major attractions of Rhodos, the extremely well preserved  city walls. From the ship we could see the Tower of France in front of us, which indicates that the ruins we saw were once constructed by the Hospitallers who were from French decent or spoke the French language. (Thank you Wikipedia)

We will sail today from Rhodos at 18.00 hrs. and then head west to Heraklion on Crete. Weather forecast is about the same, so we have no clue what to expect with the wind. But they are most likely correct about the sun. It was hot today but due to the strong wind, it felt pleasant. Very dangerous. Yesterday we saw the first “lobsters” already walking around the ship and I am expecting a few more today and tomorrow.